Fields of Sunflowers
by Artemis Samhain
Summary: What if Cassandra's vision in Hourglass was incomplete? What if Lex could indeed be saved? And what if Chloe, and only Chloe, was his only chance?


Disclaimer: No, Smallville doesn't belong to me. If it did Kristin Kreuk would be playing the role of Lana Lang, the town whiner who annoyed the Hell out of the wrong guy one day and got what she deserved while Lex, the resident sexy billionaire and Chloe, the dashing reporter, were much too preoccupied in their own love affair to even notice.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Lex Luthor thinks that the battle against himself and his father is over when he sees his destiny with the help of old Cassandra but what he didn't know (and they didn't show us) is that the vision was incomplete, and salvation did exist in the form of a bond-haired, green-eyed angel.

Pairing: I'm going to be original and innovate in this site, so I'm going to write a Chlex...

Mmhh... Even my jokes are bad.

Spoilers: Clearly 'Hourglass' but I cannot see any other.

Fields of Sunflowers

"I wanted to take you up on your offer" the resolute tone in Alexander Joseph Luthor's voice admitted no refusal, but Cassandra was unimpressed.

"Mmh... I thought you controlled your own destiny"

Her tone was lightly mocking, but there was an air of apprehension around her that was very noticeable, charging the air with palpable tension. Lex Luthor's mask didn't waver, though, and he kept his ground, as usual.

"I do. But certain things have happened in my life. Signs I don't want to ignore"

His tone was deadly serious and it drove the old woman's attention at last.

"What kind of signs?" Cassandra's tone was now openly curious.

"I lived when I should have died. There must be a reason for that. You see, I don't want to do good things" he paused, maybe to contemplate his next words, or maybe for dramatic purposes "I want to do great things"

"Well, you don't need me for that"

It was now obvious that the old lady was reluctant to perform the task which Lex was proposing to her just now, even though she had offered before. Lex wondered briefly what had made her change her mind so quickly, and not knowing the answer only made him push harder.

"What's the matter, Cassandra? Are you afraid of what you'll see?"

The fortune teller sat in an overstuffed chair and as only response told him rather dryly to take a seat in front of her. Alexander pulled an old ottoman and sat across the lady.

"You've been warned" the woman chuckled but when she held out her hand towards the young billionaire he seemed to have something more to say.

"I don't want you to tell me my future, I want you to let me see it" Lex let out with a quiet sigh of determination "Show me, if you can"

That was a request no one had asked for before and Cassandra took some time to think it over and then nodded, looking rather sombre. With that little detail sorted out Lex Luthor extended his own hand and grasped the old woman's before he saw the world go black...

"_He saw himself sitting down in a great leather chair in front of a desk he would have recognized everywhere. The oval office in all of its glory appeared hazy and elusive, shimmering white as the suit he had on. White shirt, pants, jacket and tie had never been a personal favourite but he felt comfortable in the attire and looked around him in serene awe and warmth, content pouring out of his expression. Standing suddenly he passed through a door and into an enormous fields covered with thousands and thousands of sparkling sunflowers, looking fresh and covered with beads of dew, with the mountains as a background and a clear blue sky. The colours seemed vivid and alive and the overall picture created an air of glittery confusion._

_Feeling drawn to the flowers around him Alexander bent slightly and, reaching out with a black-gloved hand, he gently touched the petals of the flower, marvelling at their softness. All of a sudden, though, the flower crumpled under his touch, turning into ashes before him. The rest of the sunflowers followed in rapid succession as the skies darkened and the fluffy white clouds turned crimson red. Soon the entire field was covered in black ashes and human skulls and Lex looked around in astonishment spreading his arms to the heavens, asking why. Rain, thick and unpleasant started falling as his only answer and, astounded, he saw it for what it was, blood, running across his face and drenching him from head to toe, turning the white suit a sickening shade of scarlet. Raising his arms he embraced the rain, feeling it was the only thing he could do, to submit to what it was predestined... to what it was his destiny... to what he was..."_

"No" the forceful statement seemed to float around the air of the room before dissipating into nothingness. Shaking his head in steady denial Alexander Luthor stood up abruptly, trying in vain to release his hand from Cassandra's dead grip. The old lady's face was ashen and she seemed strangely out of sorts, almost fainted.

"Are you all right?" he quickly asked, almost ashamed of knowing the woman had seen the monster he was soon to become. When he finally disentangled his hand from hers Lex started towards the door, intent on getting medical help for the old woman who was obviously suffering when the voice of Cassandra stopped him.

"No, come! This is not the end, there is more, more! I cannot let you walk away with only a part of your future!"

She was struggling fore the ability to breathe and gasped for air as she fell to the floor. Yelling in a commanding voice for someone to go and fetch and ambulance Lex knelt next to the fallen Cassandra and gently tried to wake her up.

"Oh, dear boy" she rasped, obviously having problems speaking "I shouldn't have... Incomplete..." she cleared her throat "But don't worry, the rest will come to you... You are blessed with an alternative, my boy, and it will come to you in your dreams... the rest of the vision, your future"

The words were more and more strangled and, with a last sigh and an apology stuck to her lips Cassandra passed away.

"She saw it" Clark gasped as he approached the unmoving figure of Cassandra just as Lex stood up, visibly shaken but doing a damn good job at hiding it from everybody's most clueless farm-boy.

"Saw what?" the billionaire asked, more to keep the ball rolling that out of true curiosity.

"Her future"

The words had cut through the bald-headed man like Hephaestus had caught through Zeus's skull to release Athena from her prison.

He hadn't spoken to Clark ever since, or to anyone for that matter. He snapped orders to his subordinates, yes, and yelled commands to the members of the staff at the mansion, but that was not the same. He drank a lot too, as if the scotch he constantly poured into his expensive, a thousand-dollars-a-dozen glasses was nothing more than water. Thank Goodness his father was nowhere near the premises because if he had there was no stopping Lex from wringing the man's neck as he deserved. He was turning into his father, Lionel had finally won the battle of wits between father and son. All traces of Lillian Luthor, the kind and compassionate woman who had taught her son manners, sympathy and happiness, would be gone from him, and he would loose her forever.

In the near future he would have the deaths of thousands hanging over his head. Oh, yes, great things indeed and certainly not good...

"Here is the decanter, Mr. Luthor, full as you wished" the dry voice of the butler interrupted Lex's thoughts. Nodding towards the man while trying to get back to the contracts and memorandums that plagued his desk. It was the eve of his birthdays and soon he would be 22. He wondered cynically how long it would take for him to start playing the Devil instead of its advocate as he had been doing so far. Glancing at the amber liquid his butler had poured into one of his glasses he downed it with a quick swing, accustomed as he was to the fiery feeling spreading along his throat and into his stomach.

"Happy Birthday, Lex" he said sarcastically into the silence of the room, leaving his desk and his papers and changing them to the comfort of his bedroom. Letting himself fall into the bed after changing his clothes he closed his eyes, knowing what he would see in his dreams before he fell asleep.

A bloody field of skulls and withered sunflowers turned into ashes, of course.

_"Nothing had changed, from the oval room to the field of sunny yellow flowers. He always felt happy at the beginning, as if he could not remember how it ended. It was the same vision, down to his gestures and his expressions. As he touched the flower and the sky darkened he felt as he had before, confused but resigned, and the rain started to fall mercilessly, staining his pristine white jacket. He raised his arms and looked around in confusion, closing his eyes to embrace the darkness..._

_When the rain stopped hitting on his head._

_Afraid to open his eyes he felt rather than saw something passing along his skull and face, whipping the blood away. Lowering his head to allow the cloth to clean the rest of his head he opened his eyes. All he saw at first was a pair of sandal-clad legs and the bottom of a deep green sundress trimmed with golden threads at the hem. Slowly looking upwards he saw first un umbrella over his head, of a beautiful shade of gold and then, lowering his eyes again to he registered first the arm that reached over him to wipe the rain from his neck and cheeks and then the face, huge green eyes mixed with hazel staring at him unwaveringly and a megawatt smiled spread over her face. Chloe Sullivan's blond hair was done in its usual hairstyle and shone just as the rest of her seemed to. Reaching out with the hand that did not hold the umbrella she gently touched his left cheek before turning his face so she could clean the last smudge of blood from his face. He felt as if her whole face was tingling starting from the spot where she touched him, and the beginnings of a smile started to form on his lips, leaving him feeling helpless at the absence of his usual smirk or his sporadic scowl. Suddenly seeming shy Chloe offered a more tentative smile and a beautiful sunflower, which she suddenly held in her hand and presented to Lex. Taking the flower in his hands the bald billionaire noticed out of the blue that he had no black gloves anymore, and with new confidence he slightly bent his head to smell the flower, grinning madly, causing Chloe's tentative smile to blossom into that beaming smile everyone noticed on her face as soon as they met her._

"_So, this is a bit embarrassing, Miss Sullivan" he said cheekily, his voice husky "Isn't the prince supposed to rescue the princess, not the other way 'round?"_

_Arching an eyebrow in response and shrugging elegantly Chloe took a step towards him, showing no fear. His suit was no longer covered in blood and the field was not rotten and dead anymore, but golden and brimming with life._

"_I am not your average princess, Mr. Luthor, and you are a tad too dark and tormented to be the pure-of-spirit prince, but I like it more this way" she paused and looked impishly into the eyes of Lex as he wrapped his arms around her waist "Besides, who said you didn't save me first?"_

_Furrowing his brow Lex tightened his hold on Chloe, bringing both their foreheads into contact._

"_How?" he asked in a low whisper, closing his eyes "How did I save you, Chloe? From what monster did I rescue you, what tower where you trapped in?"_

"_You rescued me from dreary and tedious farm boys, horribly pink former cheerleaders and the bore of a Small Town and its big prejudices. You know... All work and no play make Chloe a very dull girl"_

"_Are you saying I've been just a sport to you, Miss Sullivan?" Lex teased kindly, feeling his breath mingling with hers, so exquisite the feeling it threatened to kill him in the spot out of sheer ecstasy._

"_Do not joke about this, Lex!" Chloe punched him lightly on the arm, her forehead never leaving the safe contact of his. "'Tis no laughing matter! You cannot even begin to comprehend the extent of my love for you..."_

_Chloe gasped then, eyes opening wide, realizing just how far she had gone and how much she regretted those words. Pulling back quickly she tried to push him back by the arms when, in a swift move that spoke volumes of hidden strength and fluidity, Lex Luthor pulled her back flush against his body and captured her lips with his own._

_Chloe's eyes widened even more and she gasped again, what only prompted Alexander to tighten his arms around her and sweep his tong along her bottom lip and then across her own tongue, inviting her to duel with him, to respond and not just to yield out of surprise or strength of feeling. Closing her eyes suddenly the blond sighed into his mouth before wrapping her arms around his neck with renewed passion and emitting a cry of joy that came out muffled by his mouth and halfway into becoming a moan as Lex slowly ran his hands up and down her back, causing her to arch to him like a cat that is being scratched to it's heart's content._

_Pulling back to look into his face Chloe's mouth broke into another dizzying smile before she nuzzled his neck with slow, satisfied movements as he hid his face into her short mass of golden hair, sighing in pleasure._

"_Call me Lex" _

_It was almost as if he was feeling the calm after the storm instead of before, when it all had been agonizing and painful._

Waking up with a start, Lex Luthor for a moment revealed in the feeling of cold sweat trickling down his back and neck, all-too-aware of the fact that he was panting and shaking almost spasmodically. Evening his breathing was the hardest thing of all but the first task to be accomplished, amazingly enough and once that was out of the way his brain took over, to remember the details of the dream and commit them to memory. It had come as a sort of revelation, more of an epiphany than anything else, really.

He remembered everything that had been added, from the hand whipping his face to the lips pressing against his own, and the sunflowers, above anything else, gleaming in all shades of yellow against the light of the sun as it set behind him. But he could not, however, for the love of everything that was dear to him remember the face, or the hair, or the eyes he knew were gorgeous, and the smile that must have been blinding.

The last part of his mental tirade caught his attention, as if there was a clue behind that sentence, though he wasn't sure what exactly.

"Maybe it was just the way my imagination had of trying to deny what it's only inevitable... By artfully creating a different scenario were I do not turn into my father without the rock-star hairstyle" he mocked himself aloud, bitterly shaking his head before sinking back into his mattress to try and regain the sleep he knew wouldn't come back and settle the nerves he knew would not stop fretting.

"Hi Lex, how are you today?"

Lana's chirper voice cut right through Lex's fragile skull, his head still throbbing from the scotch fest of the night before "You look kinda pale... Well, more than usual"

Silently thanking the Gods above Lana wasn't likely to feel inclined to pursue a diplomatic career anytime soon Lex nodding in her general way before fully stepping into The Torch, lightly passing his eyes, carefully hidden behind black shades, along the coffee shop, noticing the few patrons here and there chatting noncommittally, some of them glancing his way more than once with a hint of curiosity or apprehension in their eyes. Shaking his head he approached the booth where Clark as always was sitting, playing some kind of macho game with Pete by the look on their faces, their backpacks forgotten on the floor and their coffees getting lukewarm on a side of the counter.

"Hello, Clark" he said smoothly, wondering whether the clueless teen would remember his birthday as he had remembered his, knowing the answer to that question beforehand but still wanting to give the farm boy the benefit of the doubt that was so often denied to him.

"Hey Lex" Clark answered with his boyish grin, his eyes not leaving Pete as they thumb wrestled the day away. Peter Ross did not even bother to acknowledge him, even after his dry but well intentioned mention of his name twice.

"And what brings you here, Lex? Aren't you supposed to be working at LexCorp, as you usually do?" Lana asked while getting a rag and a glass to start whipping, her head titled to a side while she threw not-so-furtive glances towards Clark every now and then.

"I do not work today, Miss Lang" Lex replied smoothly, knowing nobody would pick up on the significance of his statement, as the prolonged silence served to prove. Sitting down and ordering a black coffee he knew would taste as far from coffee as humanly possible he engaged Lana, Clark and occasionally Pete in idle chitchat about their school, the Kents, Lana's aunt and so on. Suddenly their conversation was interrupted when the main door burst open and Pete exclaimed loudly:

"At last she appears! Where the Hell have you been, Chloe?"

The aforementioned girl took no notice of his words as she swept past him, carrying a package of some sort carefully wrapped with see-through golden wrap paper loosely arranged around whatever it was she was carrying. Directing a beaming smile at Lex she stepped in front of him and eyes him up and down.

"This is not the confident Alexander 'Call me Lex' Luthor I came to see" she said cheekily, shaking her head in teasing disapproval, resting her parcel on the counter and putting her hands on her hips "Really, Mr. Luthor I would have thought that you knew better than to get a hangover this day, of all days"

Clark and Lana looked strangely at each other, seemingly lost in what was going on in front of them. Pete just glared at Chloe, obviously upset that she had not even glanced at him once and was dedicating her attention solely to Lex.

"You don't bite around the bush, Miss Sullivan, I see" Lex replied smoothly, drawling the words as he took off his glasses and offered a patented Lex Luthor smirk that was bound to get her out and running in seconds "Quite the little reporter as always, aren't we?"

The smirk was there, and even Clark looked a little bit put out, but Chloe's smile did not waver and she simple beamed at him, took the present from the counter and pressed it into his hands.

"Happy Birthday Lex" she said simply, almost quietly, her face radiant. On an impulse she quickly threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek before pulling back quickly and blushing to the roots of her hair. Hastily mumbling something that sounded like an apology she grabbed her backpack, reminded Clark for the fourteenth time of the article on the new bookstore in town he owed her, smacked Pete on the back of his head for being so rude, whirled around once to wave goodbye at everyone and opens the door.

"Chloe, however did you know it was Lex's birthday?" Clark suddenly asked sheepishly while scratching his head. The blond reporter turned around once more, shrugged her shoulders and replied:

"It is as I told you before Clark. I know Lex down to his favourite brand of cereal"

Then she was out as fast as she had at first burst in, leaving everyone slightly perplexed. With quick, automatic movements Lex carefully unwrapped the gift in his hands and when he saw it a rush of memories came back, like voices in his head:

"_I am not your average princess, Mr. Luthor..."_

"_How did I save you, Chloe?"_

"_Are you saying I've been just a sport to you, Miss Sullivan?"_

"_You cannot even begin to comprehend the extent of my love for you..."_

It had been Chloe all along. The girl from the dream, the blond-haired beauty that had washed away the blood. She was destined to save him and, if the dream could be a desperate fabrication of his frazzled mind, the gift could not...

A perfect, blooming sunflower on a terracotta flower-pot, glossy even under the dull, electric lights of the Talon.

"Oh, Gosh, she gave you one of her sunflowers!" Clark exclaimed next to him "I never thought I would see the day when Chloe Sullivan would part with on one of her 'little ones' as she likes to call them"

"Whatever do you mean?" Lex asked dazedly, his head spinning.

"Chloe has this big garden on her backyard, and it is all covered from head to toe with sunflowers, her favorite flower. She started with a few but over the years the flowers covered every single space" Lana explained "She is quite protective of them, and seldom tells anyone about the garden at all. I stumbled upon it by accident as I was bound to, living at her house and all, but it took some time to get her to open up about the whole thing. And now she gave you a flower!" she gushed "Isn't it romantic?"

"Don't even joke about it Lana!" Pete looked positively disgusted, as if he had swallowed vinegar "You know I have an overactive imagination and besides, you are making a big deal about this nonsense"

The uncertainty in his voice was clear but it mattered not to Lex as he dashed out of the coffee house as fast as his legs could carry him, looking at both sides of the street for any traces of Chloe Sullivan. Finally he spotted her near her car, about to get inside apparently.

"Miss Sullivan, wait!" he called loudly with no avail. He tried two times more till, exasperated and almost running to meet her he shouted out:

"Chloe!"

She finally did turn around, looking at him in wonder.

"You said my name" she stuttered, awed "You never said my name before"

He nodded, slightly out of breath and wrapped his arms tightly around her after carefully placing the pot and the flower of the floor away from the traffic. Caught unaware Chloe took her time to respond and missed her chance when his lips pressed against hers for a second.

"One day, Chloe, you'll save me, and when the day comes I promise you I'll save you too and kiss you senseless" he whispered into her ear before pulling back, grabbing the sunflower and heading towards his silver Jaguar.

"And what am I supposed to save you from?" she asked, panting. He had left her wanting so much more...

"From myself, Miss Sullivan, from myself" the dry, husky voice floated toward the blond teenager "Good afternoon"

"Good afternoon Lex" she whispered back, shaking her head and thinking that maybe there was some hope for him. He could still be saved.


End file.
